Oginal British WWII RAF Bomber Type B Flying Helmet 1939 Dated and Signed by Crew with MK VIII Goggles in Box Original Items

Original Item. Only One Available: This is an incredible Type B Brown leather helmet made of seven vertical panels. Helmet has a rectangular horizontal panel across the forehead and has two zipped leather oval housings to the ears and leather chinstrap. Both zippers function perfectly. The chinstrap is sewn to the right side & secured by a metal friction type Bennett buckle that is sewn to the left. The helmet has a vertical opening to the neck, 4½ inches deep, fitted with a horizontal adjustable leather strap that ensured a smug fit and facilitated ease of removal of the helmet. This strap is attached to the rear of the right ear cup, runs through another short steel buckled vertical leather strap that is sewn to the right of the opening slit, and into another friction type Bennett buckle that is sewn behind the left ear cup. The helmet is lined with buff-colored chamois. The inside of the oval ear cups are padded for comfort. The crown of the helmet has the original maker label at reads:

1939
made by
PADDINGTON & SON LTD
NEW LAND
HULL
No1
6 ¼
6 ¾

Furthermore the helmet is signed by the crew of the bomber they operated. There are a few names we can make out like: G. Godsall (Godsell?), W. J. Bapcock, F/Sgt(?) McClean, D. Williamson (Dim) and a few more that are hard to make out.

The best feature besides the names is the artwork by the right ear cup. The artwork features an image of the Royal Air Force “Eagle” Insignia with a Skull and the number 13 just below that. We are not sure what this symbol means, squadron insignia, aircraft insignia or number of downed enemy planes, your guess is as good as ours!

Another interesting feature of this helmet is the ear cups modification. They’re the RCAF “brown” with RCAF broad arrow marked pads. The stitching appears to be old and matches the color and pattern of the rest of the helmet. Your guess is as good as our on this one, user preference perhaps?

Also included with this amazing Type B is a boxed set of Mk VIII flying goggles complete with spare tinted lenses and anti-dimming cloth in the original can.

This is truly a wonderful set and would display quite nicely in your WW2 RAF and even RCAF collections.

We Were Able To Research One Name. Now we are not 100% certain on this but, the handwritten f/sgt McLean we believe to be Tom McLean DFC, DFM.

McLean joined the RAF at eighteen in June 1940 and was trained as a ground defence gunner, learning everything he could about guns, ammunition and ballistics. He later volunteered as an aerial gunner and was posted to No 102 Squadron as a Halifax rear-gunner. On his very first mission on 28 August 1942, McLean shot down an attacking Me 109.

He was awarded an immediate DFM after shooting down 2 Junkers Ju 88 on 6 December 1942, on his 17th mission. Astonishingly, this was not to the taste of some of the squadron’s officers, who made sure that McLean remained “in his place”.

McLean shot down an Me 110 and claimed another one as probable over Lorient on 16 February 1943. The probable was later recognized as a confirmed victory by intelligence. Ending his first tour of operations in April 1943, he became a gunnery instructor in Bomber Command.

Some time later, he was assigned as a gunnery instructor in a remote Coastal Command station and felt that his skills were mis-used. He managed to take part in patrols but never recorded these as actual operations in his logbook.

His morale was very low and he had begun considering desertion when he was invited to join the elite 617 Squadron, where he was well received and found an atmosphere more suited to his personality and skills.

On 15 March 1944, McLean’s aircraft was attacked by two night fighters over France. McLean was wounded but immediately shot the first attacker down in flames. The second attacker inflicted even more damage to the Lancaster but was quickly dispatched by fire from McLean’s turret and crashed. A nearby Me 109 was attracted by the action and proceeded to attack them but McLean was able to fend him off.

After recovering from his wounds, McLean continued flying with 617 Squadron until after D-Day, retiring with an official total of 51 sorties. He was awarded a DFC and was received by King George VI.

After a brief time as a civilian, McLean rejoined the RAF in 1946 and remained there until 1956.